Rumor: Internal Best Buy memo confirms Wii price cut this Sunday [update]

by Griffin McElroy on Sep 23rd 2009 3:00PM

We've seen ads promoting the Wii's heretofore unconfirmed new $199 price point from Target and Toys R Us -- however, Engadget recently got its hands on the crown jewel of retailer news leakage: A purported internal Best Buy memo which confirms the discount will go into effect this coming Sunday, September 27. The memo requests that blue-shirted employees keep the cut under wraps until Nintendo formally announces the new price this coming Friday. You guys are doing a great job of that so far.

We'll keep an ear to the ground this Friday for an announcement from the Big N.

Update: Kotaku is reporting that SCEA has directly referenced the new $199 price point for Wii during a presentation to Best Buy employees in Kansas City, Missouri. Can we please put a fork in this one?

Source

Tags: best-buy, leak, memo, nintendo, price-cut, retail, wii

Reader Comments (68)

If this doesn't come true, I'll eat my hat.

If you've got a nacho cowboy hat with cheese in the top, then i'd say you're in for quite a treat!

Nacho, nacho hat
I want to eat
A nacho hat

Nacho average bear.

"The price drop will bring customers..."

Was this memo written by a Jr. Executive?

I love the fact that its says "please keep this quiet" and I'm right now looking at it by someones doing. lol

But he did keep it quiet! He also kept it visible.

Ha, I can see the employee that did this defending himself,

"But I didn't talk about it, I only showed a picture!"

Wait, Sony basically confirmed this?

Payback?

lol

please keep this quiet!

Yeah, right....

LOL @ "PLEASE KEEP THIS QUIET!"

What the he'll is a bundle band??

When they bundle products together and try to make it look like it's a special package when it's all really the same price. :P

And I'm not just trolling. I worked at a Best Buy though we'd displayed a bundle, no one in my store acted like it was a special deal at all and just got the customer what products they ACTUALLY needed. Occasionally like $10 would be knocked off of it at the store's decision. Sometimes it would be convenient if the customer wanted all of that, but normally we'd just ask, "What do you actually want?"

Unless this "bundle band" has changed into something that I haven't seen.

Apparently, a bundle band is something a super duper douchebag uses to tell a story.

Bundles that...tell stories?!?

God, I hate retail marketing.

And what a story to tell...

Wii: Play me! I'm fun! Take me home!

Molly: Mommy, I want to play with it!

Billy: It looks fun!

Jimmy: Can we take it home?

Mommy: Oh my! What a great story this bundle tells!

I don't really say what's so crazy about that, though maybe "themed" bundle would have been better terminology.

*see

Which just goes as to proove that is 8 years of collage doesnt reall help you Learn to write.

But it might help you make pretty pictures. Collage is really a fine art, I hear.

Or in your case, proper grammar.

Collage?

Are you in fourth grade?

I arr ten yars in univirts, i unspell gud.

I think his bad grammar is on purpose...

I guess he was the only person to graduate Sarcasm U.

It's a little depressing that so few people have loyalty to their employer anymore.

I mean really, breaking policy and potentially getting fired so that you can be the first to post on a blog site? Is that what passes for heorism these days?

Yup.

Have you never worked in retail before? I'd use many words to describe it, but loyalty is not one of them.

It's a faceless corporation that couldn't care less about its employees. Fuck 'em.

Is there a reason that you're focusing on some sort of B.S. morality here?

Might as well be consistent since we're also talking about a company that needs a few slaps on the hand, as well.

Not sure if you read the posts (up) about the "bundle bands," but Best Buy is known for deliberately lying to their customers in order to make more money this way. I should know. I used to work there.

Ok can we just stop saying this thing is "rumor" now? We're talking Toys R Us, Target, and now Best Buy.

Sounds legit.

not a rumor this is a done deal saw it at work.

I love me some tight merchandising.

"...Price drop....blah bla blah...$50 less..blah blah blah blah...."

What the fuck ever....just get me a Black one

What, you got a problem with the white one?

You do realize that every time you say that, you're only opening the floodgate of bad wii puns an the such?

Anyway, yeah I want one to. The Wii of course.

lol...I have a white one....its an eyesore in my livingroom wih my Black TV, Black, PS3, Black, Home theater system, Black cable box, all black everything......and when I get a New TV with 4 HDMI Ports I will have my Black 360 in there....

Remember when the Nintendo Revolution was going to launch in a bunch of different colors? If only.

Damn you look like a hard ass bastard in your new avatar Aggie! :P

Just get a black vinyl skin, that's what I did.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I'm not a kid.....I'm a GROWN ASS MAN...and I will NOT PAINT or STICKER ANYTHING THATS GOING IN MY HOME THEATER SETUP

"The price cut will bring in customers. They will be receptive to solutions"

Marketing translation:

"THE CONSUMER SHEEP WILL EAT THIS UP! PILE ON SHOVELWARE FOR MASSIVE PROFITS."

Nintendo has said they have no plans to bring the Black Wii to the US - Japan only.

Mind you that might (should) change, but that's the story now.

Nintendo said they would not bring the DSi to the US in 2009 either. That lasted until... April, I think.

It is my suspicion that they are going to announce something regarding an NSMBWii bundle, just because they haven't announced it yet, alone out of all their games for this holiday, yet a non-confirmed release date just popped up for people who pre-ordered it on Amazon, and i bet the two have something to do with each other.

No way I still don't believe this happening. ;-p

OH NO, NOT A WII LEAK!

instantrimshot.com

I saw the rollback signs on the price tags(but they didn't put in how much the discount is) for Nintendo Wii's at Wal-mart today....We all knew that this was coming!!!

I'm pretty sure a bundle band is what holds the 2 Gamecubes together.

Should be lower, how much do you guys think it costs them to build a Wii?

We have Microsoft and Sony to thank for this by the way, Ninty is afraid people will catch on how little value you are getting for 250$ when they compare it to a 300$ PS3.

According to Nintendo it cost $100 dollars to make at launch. Soooo by now, I'd wager to bet it's only about $50. So yea, let's go to $150 Nintendo.

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Rumor: Internal Best Buy memo confirms Wii price cut this Sunday [update]

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